Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Karl Lagergeld Kuts Asking Price of New York City Krib

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Our compadres over at Curbedreported today that a glammy if hardly furnished New York City apartment owned but never occupied by German-born and Paris-based couturier Karl Lagerfeld has just had a hardcore haircut that plunged the price tag from $6,500,000 all the way down to $5,200,000.

Property records show a corporate entity we can not directly connect to Herr Lagerfeld acquired the swank sixth floor spread, located in the high-priced Ian Schrager conceived 50 Gramercy Park North building, way back in November 2006. The complicated sale price shows up on Street Easy as $6,694,993.

Mister Lagerfeld, who churns out designs for Chanel, his own eponymous label as well as Fendi, was rumored (and reported) back in early February (2011) to be fixing to list the 2-3 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom condo that overlooks private Gramercy Park with a $5,500,000 asking price. However, dontcha know, within days of the first reports on the matter mercurial Mister Lagerfeld let the folks at fashion bible Women's Wear Daily know that he'd "never heard anything about such a price" and that, in fact, he wasn't selling the apartment at all.

Flash forward to late July (2011) when–not entirely unexpectedly–Herr Lagerfeld's contemporary condo-crib popped up on the open market with an asking price of $6,500,000. Its current $5,200,000 asking price means, as per our beloved bejeweled abacus, that even if his Gramercy Park pad sells for full price, Mister Lagerfeld faces a not-inconsequential $1,494,993 financial gut punch not counting real estate fees or the $7,436 per month common charges that our calculations show total over $400,000 for the near five years he's owned but made little or no use of the apartment.The floor plan included with listing current listing information (above) shows the 2,151 square foot apartment opens to a foyer that spills into the living/dining room that features oak floors stained matte black, custom-designed built book cases for holding a small part of Herr Lagerfeld's famously vast book collection, and pretty-pretty Gramercy Park views through windows that stretch from the floor to ceiling. Sliding pocket doors join the living room with the adjacent bedroom/library, also with a wall of custom-designed book cases, plus a small dressing room and private bathroom.

The streamlined kitchen, originally open to the living/dining room, has been closed off and features sleek cherry wood cabinetry and sterile stainless steel counter tops. At first we worried about the wisdom of the enclosing the windowless kitchen but then we remembered that Herr Lagerfeld–now just a slip of a thing but a former chubster who in his heftier days was rarely seen without a fluttering fan that (sort of) hid a double chin–injests little more than "protein sachets," diet soda, and homeopathic granules.

A long hallway lined with, shallow closets, a powder pooper, and a laundry closet stretches back from the foyer, past the second bedroom with private facility to the north facing master suite comprised of bedroom outfitted with even more custom designed book cases, a single walk-in closet, an office/dressing area and windowless bathroom with two sinks, travertine soaking tub, separate stall shower and over-sized terlit cubicle.

Since Herr Lagerfeld has never officially occupied the premises we make the (possibly incorrect) assumption that the barely there day-core–even that headless and armless male mannequin-thing wearing riding boots in the master bedroom–belongs to Staging Lady in a Pink Toyota.

Ownership at 50 Gramercy Park North includes a coveted key to the private Gramercy Park plus access to all the many services provided by the impossibly chic Gramercy Park Hotel located immediately next door. Available amenities include valet parking, butler, room and catering services, housekeeping, event planning, personal shopping, priority reservations at swank eateries, a fitness facility, spa and private roof top club.

For what it's worth, a few moments research reveals the apartment directly below Mister Lagerfeld's real estate albatross is also on the market but with a lower asking price of $4,950,000. In January of this year an all but identically laid out apartment on the third floor sold for $4,150,000 after more than two years on and off the market with asking prices as optimistically high as $6,900,000. Make of that information what you will.

Until some in 2007 or 2008 the supermodel thin and dour-pussed high fashion dynamo who sports a pony-tailed pompadour and masochistic shirt collars, lived for 18 or so years in a palatial and heavily-gilded 18,000 square foot apartment in a converted hôtel particulier on the Rue de l'Université. A fascinating 2007 profile of Herr Lagerfeld in The New Yorker revealed that he was then in the process of relocating to the Quai Voltaire where he'd "purchased four apartments on two floors on two floors of a two-hundred year old building overlooking the Louvre." The profile went on to say that the lower floor would be done up and did over "Old World" style and the upper floor with furniture and artworks made after the year 2000. Photographs taken by Herr Lagerfeld himself were, apparently, published in the Japanese version of Elle Decor in 2008 and depict a very contemporary interior with a heavily disciplined palette of black, white, grey, and stainless steel.

It was also reported here and there in October 2008 that Herr Lagerfeld made the unlikely acquisition of an 19th century house with six bedrooms on an island in Lake Champlain, VT, but, sorry Charlies, we don't have anything concrete or specific on that other than he himself described the house as "very much Emily Dickenson," whatever that means.

40 comments:

I am no expert on NYC Real Estate.. but this overall seems like a "good deal".. however with the units in the building not moving or sitting on the market perhaps not. Does the modernista not like the Midtownish to far East Location of Grammercy anymore at this price and are all perferring Tribeca, WestVill, or Chelsea? If it were me I would also say no to this local but I would think others would not.. hmmm

Like the floorplan, and Gramercy Park is one of the most charming areas in Manhattan. As for the interiors, if this is an up-to-date photo... the same white theme is seen in his Paris home. Actually, the photo looks like something out of the developer's brochure. The right person (aka Tobi Tobin) could turn this into my dream house.

Good deal, trendy neighborhood (but not as much as Tribeca & West Village), nice floorplan, love that you can get all the services from the hotel and also love the architect. Now, if only I had money...

Was he the inspiration for the white clothed crazy fashionista in Zoolander? In any case, quite a lot of entertaining info here, Mama. Imagine the pain and suffering involved in being an important couturier!